In a typical gaming system, it is important to avoid the potential for players to predict when a particular gaming terminal will have a win, and thus electronic gaming terminals are typically configured to provide wins on a random or pseudo-random basis, often using a random number generator. Gaming devices typically use some of the wagering revenues to fund prizes, with the remainder (referred to as a "hold") being retained by the casino or other game operator. Previous devices, while providing prizes on a random basis, have provided one or more prize payouts which are of a fixed nature, i.e., which are predetermined and substantially unrelated to the amount of wagers that have been placed since the last win. For example, in a video poker device, a machine may be configured to output a first prize amount in response to a hand which has a pair and a second prize amount to a hand which has three of a kind, and so forth. The prize amounts corresponding to each winning hand are, typically, predetermined and constant. In a slot machine game, jackpots or other prizes are paid upon obtaining particular reel combinations. Typically, such gaming devices are configured so that on average (i.e., over a relatively long period of time, which may encompass many games, a number of which may be winning games) the amount of hold for a terminal will approach a predetermined target average hold. However, over a relatively short range (e.g., over a period representing two or three wins), the amount of hold for a machine, will typically be quite volatile. This is particularly true when the hold is considered on the basis of the ratio of the money which is held since the last prize to the total amount wagered since the last prize.
Previous systems which have provided for random wins with fixed payoffs have involved a banked game, i.e., a game in which players compete against the house (or "bank") for a prize. This is at least partly because wins which are randomly distributed will occasionally occur close together, so that a subsequent prize is not fully funded by wages that have been placed since the previous prize.
Some previous gaming systems have included a feature which provides for a so-called progressive prize which increases in value as more players wager to win the prize. However, such previous devices have been implemented so that players wager for non-progressive prizes at the same time that they are playing a "progressive" game and thus these devices still have substantial volatility in the hold value.
Accordingly, it would be useful to provide a gaming system which avoids and, preferably substantially eliminates, volatility from the hold value. It would be useful to provide a device which can be implemented as a non-banked game, i.e., in which there is not a potential for a prize which has not already been "covered" by previous wagers (and which, thus must be covered by the house or "bank").